Gluten Free Skillet Cornbread Sweetened with Molasses {Win a $100 Williams-Sonoma Grill Set!} Recipe
I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for Sunshine Sweet Corn from Florida. I received a promotional item to thank me for my participation.
When you think of Florida, you may think of oranges and grapefruit, but these days you should also think of Sunshine Sweet Corn! That’s right, because growers in the state of Florida produce corn year-round with a peak season during April and May. So there’s no need to wait until summer to enjoy corn on the cob.
It’s perfect timing, because it’s warm here in Georgia and we’re always grilling something on the weekend. And there’s nothing better to go with grilled barbecue or a steak than cornbread.
Making skillet cornbread gluten free, dairy free and fun!
However, if you’re gluten free, the funny thing about cornbread is that while it’s made with cornmeal, it’s also made with a lot of flour. Most people are surprised to hear that! Make sure you use cornmeal not cornbread mix (which will contain flour) in your recipe. They’re sold side by side in the baking section and it’s easy to grab the wrong one accidentally. I chose a fine ground white cornmeal. Not to worry, once it was combined with the eggs and other wet ingredients, it looked yellow. However, the addition of molasses does make this cornbread more brown than yellow once baked.
Also, traditional cornbread uses buttermilk. Love the taste, but my tummy can’t handle the dairy. So I was going to make this recipe dairy free as well by using coconut milk and a buttery spread instead of real butter.
To make my cornbread fun, I wanted to serve it in an 8” cast iron skillet, using a method I read in an old Justin Wilson cookbook and saw in an episode of Damaris Phillips’s Food Network show, Southern at Heart. You heat the empty cast iron skillet in the oven. Then you take it out, add melted butter (in this case a buttery spread), and then the batter. The heat causes the batter to puff up and create a crispy crust when the cornbread is put back in the oven to be baked.
Finally, I wanted to use whole pieces of corn in it straight from my Sunshine Sweet Corn from Florida. I love cornbread with pieces of corn in it. It seems more rustic and homey, don’t you think? Plus, when you take pieces of leftover cornbread, add coconut milk and a little stevia to it the next morning, and heat it up to make a breakfast mush, the corn kernels are even more delicious!
Use this corn shucking hack!
Usually, I shuck the corn outside by the compost pile because I hate the silk sticking to trash can and falling all over the kitchen floor. Then I cook the corn by steaming it over boiling water in a big pot on the stovetop.
However, I had seen this corn shucking video on YouTube and thought it was too good to be true. There was no way you could cook an ear of corn in the microwave for four minutes, cut off the stem end, grab it by the silk end, and have the corn magically slide out of the husks. So I gave the corn in the microwave hack a try:
The corn slides out best when it’s hot, so use an oven mitt or paper towels to grip the corn to you don’t burn your hand!
Learn the microwave corn shucking hack at This Mama Cooks! On a Diet. You'll never go back to cooking your corn on the cob on the grill or stove top again!
The beauty of this method is that you don’t have to heat up the grill or boil a pot of water to cook up your corn. If you have a lot of corn to cook, you’ll have to experiment on how much time in the microwave you’ll need to cook more than one ear at a time. (You can always cook up two or three ears and then test one by peeling back the husks to see if it’s done.)
Corn husking pictures by Lucie Nichols.
Win a $100 Williams-Sonoma Grill Set from Sunshine Sweet Corn from Florida!
Influence Central and Sunshine Sweet Corn from Florida are giving away five $100 Williams -Sonoma Grill Sets (one set each to five lucky winners)!
The contest goes until May 22, 2015
You can enter by choosing one or more of the options below!
Good luck!
Sunshine Sweet #HuskYeah Campaign
Gluten Free Skillet Cornbread Sweetened with Molasses
Ingredients
- 2 cups fine ground white cornmeal
- 1 cup gluten free all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 tablespoons molasses
- 2 large eggs
- 1 3/4 cups coconut milk
- 1/3 cup dairy free buttery spread, melted (divided)
- 1 1/2 cups cooked corn
Directions
Place 8-inch cast iron skillet in center rack of oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, gluten free flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a small bowl, whisk together the molasses, eggs, coconut milk, and 4 tablespoons of the melted buttery spread.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to combine thoroughly. Add the cooked corn and stir until the corn is incorporated throughout.
Remove the hot cast iron skillet from the oven and carefully add the remaining melted buttery spread into the skillet. (It will pop and bubble, so stand back!) Swirl the butter so bottom and as much of the sides of the skillet is coated as possible.
Pour in the batter and place back in the oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes. The molasses will give the cornbread a dark color, so don’t be alarmed that it is burning. It will also crack – don’t worry about it.
Serve with extra buttery spread and drizzle with molasses, if you wish.
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 40 Minutes
Total Time: 1 Hour
Servings: Serves 8
Serving size: 1/8 of skillet